Stoner Finishes Third In Valencia, Calls It Quits

Casey Stoner walks away from Moto GP at age 27 without a third world title.

November 11th, 2012Robert White

Casey Stoner ended his Moto GP career in Valencia, Spain on Sunday, a 69th podium finish for the two-time world champion.

Dani Pedrosa took the honours after starting in pole position. Behind him was Yamaha's Katsuyuki Nakasuga.

Stoner leaves the sport happy though; his win on home soil in Melbourne a fortnight ago was something to be cherished. He passed Alvaro Bautista with just two laps remaining to take third position.

The last stage of the Moto GP season was an eventful one. Jorge Lorenzo, who clinched the world title at Phillip Island at the stage prior, crashed and retired from the race with less than 20 laps remaining.

Pedrosa gave up his early lead to Lorenzo when he opted to take a last minute tyre change penalty after rains slickened the track, but he able to take it back when Lorenzo, one of the few riders not to take wet weather tyres, hit a wet patch and crashed.

After an interview published by an Italian magazine earlier this week saw Stoner bash the Moto GP once again and the 27-year-old Australian produced a few more of his trademark ‘call it like you see it’ comments.

“(I don’t) really want to be here… these are not the conditions I wanted to end my career in. It is one of the worst I have ever seen," said Stoner.

Stoner said afterwards that he didn’t approach the race like he normally would, fearing for his recently surgically repaired ankle.

"I knew we took the easy way out, I didn't want to take any risks," he said.

"I was honestly scared of crashing and injuring my foot any worse, and in these conditions it's the most critical – there were a lot of crashes today.

"I don't feel confident in the wet, I'm constantly tense and not riding like I can, especially in today's conditions.